"Between dog and wolf": your reviews!

[jackroadkill]

Certainly the production's good, but then so's the production on a lot of bland dross, I'd rather have good songs and poorer sound.

That's very true; a good song is a good song, but good production can only add the last couple of percent to the impact on the listener.  95% of what's in the charts is technically perfectly produced, however most albums that go down as seminal works aren't - The Clash, Nevermind, Rum Sodomy And The Lash, Appetite For Destruction, Led Zepplin, Pronounced "Leh-Nerd Skin-erd", and Antichrist Superstar to name but a few.  You cannot add magic in the mix, that only comes with the writing.

[sozbot]

Six totally immersive plays. The goose bumps are now appearing for every track.

TIAGD smashed like a bottle across the face first listen. This is more like an intravenous injection. Once the infection, the inoculation, the intoxication hits everything is right. And inevitable.

There's a moment everyone goes through every day when the subconscious starts dancing with the conscious before eventually consuming it. That's Between Dog and Wolf.

Absolutely astounding accomplishment to capture that on vinyl.

MarkP.

Pretty much agree with everything you said there.

[Rasi]

95% of what's in the charts is technically perfectly produced

This is plain wrong. In fact the opposite is true. Google overproduction, loudness war and clipping...

[jackroadkill]

This is plain wrong. In fact the opposite is true. Google overproduction, loudness war and clipping...

No, it's not wrong; I'm familiar with all of the above and I agree with you that none of them are a good idea.  The point I was making is that shiny production does not equal good songs or songwriting.  I would refer you to Stav's book "Mixing With Your Mind" and his mantra "minimum voltage, maximum illusion".

[Willard]

first time i played it I really enjoyed the first 3 songs then I kinda drifted away from listening if that makes sense.
I have listened to it a good few more times and i found that if i played it in random order each time different tracks stood out. Also, at first i thought the Knievel song had a very strange subject matter, but I am coming around to it as I now think the chorus is about more than just Knievel, I think this album is a grower due to most of them telling a very well described story and the more you listen to the songs the more you will understand the story. What makes this standout from any other NMA album is/are the backing vocals, thought i was listening to the Bee Gees at one point  This might not make sense but i think the understated guitar from Marshall shows he knows how & when to play.

I had exactly the same take on Kievel. I wasn't thrilled when I saw the title, and the verses are well written of course, but I agree that the chorus makes this song about something more. I like the angle they took with it.

[DannySan]

I am still listening to this album and nothing else. I must have listened to it about 12 or 15 times now and am still loving it.

Whilst I love the song Knievel I too find it an odd choice of subject matter and maybe a bit out of place on the album?

[Bill B]

Is it really about Evil Knievil though? I interpret it to be about the human psyche, about whether we want to see others succeed or fail in life. That's what I love about Justin's lyrics - they are always open to personal interpretation

[Barty]

Is it really about Evil Knievil though? I interpret it to be about the human psyche, about whether we want to see others succeed or fail in life. That's what I love about Justin's lyrics - they are always open to personal interpretation

A bit of both, I reckon. Verses solely/mainly about Evel (very specific, such as reference to the 29 day coma and passion for bikes) chorus about EK on a base level but more widely about life.

According to the mag, Marshall's childhood obsession with EK and stopping off at EK's hometown during a US tour inspired JS to write the song. I'm glad he did.

[dilla]

Is it really about Evil Knievil though? I interpret it to be about the human psyche, about whether we want to see others succeed or fail in life. That's what I love about Justin's lyrics - they are always open to personal interpretation

A bit of both, I reckon. Verses solely/mainly about Evel (very specific, such as reference to the 29 day coma and passion for bikes) chorus about EK on a base level but more widely about life.

According to the mag, Marshall's childhood obsession with EK and stopping off at EK's hometown during a US tour inspired JS to write the song. I'm glad he did.

Think I heard in an interview a reference to X.Factor regarding seeing people succeed or fail,so definitely not all about E.K.(love this song)

[Impuri-D]

Update (if anyone's remotely interested  )

The album started to click in a major way this evening, and strangely enough, it unlocked itself on the track that up till this evening was my absolute least favourite - 'I need more Time'. It suddenly dawned on me as I was listening to it that it takes a lot of its musical cues from 'Bela Lugosi's Dead' by Bauhaus. There is a dub vibe to the drums, and the sparse guitar work creating sonic effects as opposed to a tune really evoked Daniel Ash to my ears.
Suddenly, it made sense as a composition, and from there the rest of the album has flowered before me 

I know it will never find a place in my heart like TIAGD or High, but its certainly started to burrow under my skin like Carnival, and I mean that in a good way 

[DannySan]

Update (if anyone's remotely interested  )

The album started to click in a major way this evening, and strangely enough, it unlocked itself on the track that up till this evening was my absolute least favourite - 'I need more Time'. It suddenly dawned on me as I was listening to it that it takes a lot of its musical cues from 'Bela Lugosi's Dead' by Bauhaus. There is a dub vibe to the drums, and the sparse guitar work creating sonic effects as opposed to a tune really evoked Daniel Ash to my ears.
Suddenly, it made sense as a composition, and from there the rest of the album has flowered before me 

I know it will never find a place in my heart like TIAGD or High, but its certainly started to burrow under my skin like Carnival, and I mean that in a good way 

That's strange because I went through a similar thing last night with"I Need More Time" I was tiring of it and was at the point where I would skip that track but it came on and I let it play. I sat and listened to it a couple of times and found I started to get it more and appreciate it what a great track it is.

[Guillaume]

"I need more time" (with its follow up "Pull the sun") is one of the best songs on the album i think, very obssessive track.

[Guido]

Is it really about Evil Knievil though? I interpret it to be about the human psyche, about whether we want to see others succeed or fail in life. That's what I love about Justin's lyrics - they are always open to personal interpretation

A bit of both, I reckon. Verses solely/mainly about Evel (very specific, such as reference to the 29 day coma and passion for bikes) chorus about EK on a base level but more widely about life.

According to the mag, Marshall's childhood obsession with EK and stopping off at EK's hometown during a US tour inspired JS to write the song. I'm glad he did.

Think I heard in an interview a reference to X.Factor regarding seeing people succeed or fail,so definitely not all about E.K.(love this song)

During yesterday's tour start in Münster Justin introduced Knievel as a song about Marshall's childhood hero, Evel Knievel (as written in the mag)

[cthulhu]

I've read a lot of reviews here and found some similar thoughts troughout. positive and negative once. i don't know how often i listened to the album now and the feelings about it have changed since the first listening. but i was aware of that process. since carnival every new album was kind of a surprise, kind of a struggle because of my own expectations and songs i skipped at first became favourites.

this time i was overwhelmed by the first listening. i recommend the vinyl version of the album, i also got the cd, but on vinyl it's really better sound, imho! and i also had some comparisons in my head while listening and some expectations again, which one could call critisism, but overall now i just love it.

to sum it up i would say:

Between Rock and Space

..to the glory and the vanity of rock and roll...

[Tony S]

Is it really about Evil Knievil though? I interpret it to be about the human psyche, about whether we want to see others succeed or fail in life. That's what I love about Justin's lyrics - they are always open to personal interpretation

A bit of both, I reckon. Verses solely/mainly about Evel (very specific, such as reference to the 29 day coma and passion for bikes) chorus about EK on a base level but more widely about life.

According to the mag, Marshall's childhood obsession with EK and stopping off at EK's hometown during a US tour inspired JS to write the song. I'm glad he did.

Justin also mentioned that he had by chance, happened upon that tv documentary from a few years ago when Richard Hammond went to meet his childhood hero, Evel. Justin liked the fact that Richard, being a BBC person must therefore think he is very important (I wouldn't agree or disagree with that), but that when he met Evel, Evel didn't really give a s**t who Richard was, and wasn't very forthcoming about anything. I think the lines in the song about people coming with an easy smile, and "you only get from me what you pay for" may well refer to that !